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Derek Roy Making Solid Recovery Progress

by
Mark Stepneski
/ Dallas Stars

Stars center Derek Roy arrived in Dallas about a week ago, but he hasn’t been taking part in the skates the rest of his teammates are holding on weekday mornings. He’s been hard at work off the ice though, rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery.

“It’s getting better. Every day I try to get more motion in it and more strength in it,” Roy said. “I’m just doing the little things to get it going. It’s going to take time, but if you take it one day at a time, it’s a little better.”

The rehabilitation process started just a few days after the surgery, and Roy said it is now in its seventh week.

“We started right away. You don’t want to lose the strength and the range of motion, and the atrophy to the muscle. Research shows when you start right away, instead of letting of heal in that area, you get back a lot quicker,” Roy said. “The first month is tough, but after you get by that it is easier and you start responding faster and faster. I am just trying to stay ahead of the guidelines and keep working at it.”

It will be a long process. Roy is expected to be ready to play by November and he remains on target for that return date. He hopes to start skating by late September.

“I haven’t skated in a while,” he said. “I am going to start skating in three weeks or a month, and get that back up to speed, keep rehabbing the shoulder and move forward.”

Roy had the surgery in July, a little more than a week after the Stars acquired him from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Steve Ott and Adam Pardy. Roy played through the injury last season and he said he could have played through it again this season. But after undergoing an MRI and consulting with the Stars and their medical staff, the decision was made to get the problem taken care of surgically.

“They figured a 100 percent Derek Roy would help the team more than playing at 75 percent, getting hurt, coming back and doing that all season. We made the decision on surgery and right now for us, and we are going to move forward,” Roy said. “I could have played with it, but I wouldn’t have been 100 percent. If it fails on me again, I could miss some games. Every time you do that, you take a step back. Getting the surgery done just shows how much they care and how they want their players to be 100 percent. It shows exactly how much they care about their players.”

The 29-year-old Roy, who has 427 points (161 goals, 266 assists) in 549 NHL games, was one of the Stars’ key offseason acquisitions. He’ll help fill the void left by the departure of Mike Ribeiro, who was dealt to Washington in the deal that brought Cody Eakin to Dallas.

It’s a role the Stars felt Roy could better fill by being 100 percent, and right now he is focused on getting there. Beyond the rehab work and the occasional visit to the doctor, he’s also taking care of things like getting his car registered in Texas and wrapping up the move to his new home.

“I’m still waiting for some stuff to come in to try to make this place home as quickly as possible,” he said.

And he likes what he’s seen of his new home.

“It’s great,” he said of Dallas. “It’s a beautiful city. It’s really clean. The buildings are really nice, there’s good architecture around here. The people are friendly, I’m excited to be here and I am excited to be a part of the Dallas Stars.”